Anthony Gutierrez, general services director for Democratic Ohio Attorney General, Marc Dann, has been accused of sexually harassing two 26 year-old women, who are part of his staff. The harassment allegedly happened at a condo Dann shared (he moved out in December) with Gutierrez and communications director, Leo Jennings.
I heard this reported in the most lurid terms on a Dayton, OH, television station tonight and, I must say, I felt the hair on the back of my neck prickle. Dann was instrumental in the investigation into Coingate and is currently working to solve our state's problems with foreclosures, predatory lenders and failing charter schools.
Here are the main points:
Two 26-year-old junior staffers filed sexual harassment complaints with the attorney general's human resources department and the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The Columbus Dispatch, which obtained copies of the complaints, said the women complained that their boss, Gutierrez, pressured them frequently to have sex. link
One of the staffers is now planning to file criminal charges based on this incident:
Cindy Stankoski's attorney told The Columbus Dispatch that she will file a police report alleging that Anthony Gutierrez pressured her back in September to have a drink with him after work. Stankoski said that the two visited three bars before arriving at the Northwest Side condo Gutierrez shared with Attorney General Marc Dann and Dann's communications director Leo Jennings III.
Stankoski said she had become tipsy by the time she arrived at the condo and fell asleep in a bedroom. When she awoke, Gutierrez was lying next to her in his underwear, Stankoski said.
More on this:
Stankoski and Stout [the jr. staffers] reported several alcohol-fueled get-togethers there, including one in which Stankoski said she awoke at night to find three buttons of her pants undone and Gutierrez lying beside her wearing only underwear.
And then there's this piece to the story:
Attorney General Marc Dann denied reports that his 28-year-old former scheduler was ever wearing pajamas at his apartment — an allegation made in a sexual harassment complaint filed by two other female employees against Dann's friend and neighbor, Anthony Gutierrez.
"She's never been in my house wearing pajamas, so she certainly wasn't there that night in pajamas," Dann told reporters Wednesday, April 9. "That's just the strangest thing that I could ever imagine anyone saying. And it's hurtful because I have children who are embarrassed by the fact that that's been repeated over and over again in the newspaper."
When I heard the report - the lead story! - on the Dayton tv station tonight, the anchor said that the woman claimed that the scheduler had on pajamas or sweats. If I had to drop work off at my boss's on my own time, I know there is a decent chance I would be wearing sweats. Just saying....
He has been criticized, and rightly so in my opinion, for keeping the investigation in-house. I did read on one site (although I don't know it's reliability) that
Dann Withdraws from Sexual Harassment Investigation
Attorney General Marc Dann has recused himself from a growing investigation of sexual harassment charges against General Services Director Anthony Gutierrez. Dann has asked former Senate Minority Leader Ben Espy, his executive assistant attorney general, to refer all reports in the matter to First Assistant Attorney General Tom Winters. Read more in Tuesday’s Hannah Report.
I tried to find something to corroborate this but was unable.
This is an attorney general who, while a state senator, played a major role in exposing Coingate:
Earlier this month, state Sen. Marc Dann, a Democrat from suburban Youngstown, sued the governor’s office for documents that could shed light on the investment scandal at the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation. Mr. Taft refused to release some information, including weekly cabinet reports, citing "executive privilege."
He is a member of a group of 10 state attorneys general and several state banking regulators known as the State Foreclosure Prevention Working Group working on the foreclosure crisis:
In a move aimed at fighting the rising numbers of foreclosures in his state, Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann made a move to slow the foreclosure process down, and in doing so has attracted the attention of state officials and lawmakers across the country. Citing laws that require lenders to prove that a home is in default before a foreclosure can be pursued, Dann has attempted to make it requisite for lenders to adequately prove to the court through paperwork that they have the right to foreclose on a property before doing so. While this procedure is a law, in the past many courts have overlooked it when allowing foreclosures, since the paperwork takes time to assemble and prove.
However, what is truly novel about Dann’s crusade is that he is also advocating that homes subject to state tax liens should be waived until the correct paperwork and procedures are prepared. This raised issues this past Monday in court, as the Common Pleas magistrate rejected Dann’s argument. The magistrate even took it a step further, claiming that dismissing outstanding foreclosures cases in which the state holds liens would be depriving taxpayers of the money that pays for services and infrastructure in their state. Dann objected to this claim, and plans to keep fighting to slow the process of foreclosure in Ohio.
Here is a nice little nutshell of some of Dann's accomplishments from OhioDems.org since taking office in January 2007:
* Filed Securities Fraud Lawsuit Against Giant Lender. Attorney General Dann filed a securities fraud lawsuit against Freddie Mac, alleging the lending giant defrauded the state's pension fund by investing in sub-prime home loans. The attorney general seeks damages for government employees and other shareholders who receive benefits from the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS), which invested in Freddie Mac. It is estimated that OPERS lost as much as $27.2 million. [AP, 1/23/08]
* Attorney General Marc Dann sued ten mortgage lenders, claiming the companies violated the state’s predatory lending law. Attorney General Dann accused the lenders of pressuring real-estate appraisers to inflate the value of homes in order to close deals. Inflated appraisals usually leave buyers owing more on mortgages than their homes are worth. The attorney general asked the courts to grant permanent injunctions preventing the companies from engaging in the alleged illegal practices, forcing them to pay civil penalties, and paying reimbursements to consumers. [Columbus Dispatch, 6/8/07]
* Settled Largest Securities Fraud Case In Ohio History. Attorney General Marc Dann negotiated a $175 million settlement in the AAL/Time Warner securities fraud case, the largest settlement of its kind in the history of the state. Dann reached a settlement on behalf of the Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation and five state pension funds claimed they lost nearly $400 million in the wake of a 2001 merger with AOL. [Reuters, 3/7/07]
* Launched State’s First Predatory Lending Task Force. In February 2007, Attorney General Marc Dann launched a seven-member task force aimed at predatory lending, the state’s first-ever predatory lending task force.
* First in Nation to Obtain Court Order to Prevent Home Foreclosures. Attorney General Dann’s office is the first in the nation to obtain a court order preventing a predatory lender, New Century Financial, from foreclosing on homes without the office’s approval. New Century Financial, the biggest mortgage company that specializes in lending to people with subprime credit, was accused of violating the Consumer Sales Practice Act, the Ohio Mortgage Loan Act, and the Ohio Mortgage Brokers Act. Violations include making false and misleading statements and accepting money from consumers to process loans even though the company lacked the money to fund them. Subprime loans are largely given to poor and minority borrowers.
There may be some degree of impropriety for which Dann should be criticized. I'm not claiming at this point that there is not. I just know that when something suddenly becomes a big media storm and it involves a Democrat who is popular and has been a part of taking down some big Republicans (Noe, Ney, Taft), I get very suspicious that this is part of the same operation that went after Seigelman, Spitzer and...who else am I missing? Anyway, it smells rather like <sniff><sniff> eau de Republican to me.